


Beauty and the AI

by sarkywoman



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 13:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6007077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarkywoman/pseuds/sarkywoman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Beauty and the Beast AU. Shameless nonsense for Valentine's Day for my dear nox_wicked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beauty and the AI

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nox_Wicked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nox_Wicked/gifts).



Once upon a time there lived a Handsome Hero named Jack.

Jack was a man of intellect and power. Through determination, insight and violence he fought his way to the top of the world. He became ruler of the Hyperion corporation. But it was not to last.

So utterly convinced of his own propaganda, Jack had not imagined for one moment that he might fail. Drunk on his greed for eridium and power, Jack threw himself headlong into destruction. One by one his loved ones were lost along the way. Even his own daughter, Angel, who was from then on imitated by artificial intelligence but never truly replaced.

One day Jack awoke to find he had lost corporeal form. He had not woken from sleep, but from death. Still wired into Helios, a back-up to support Hyperion should anything happen. Worst of all, he was confined to a subsystem and he could not get out, no matter what he tried. Another trapped artificial intelligence, doomed to eke out a miserable existence in the restricted access offices of Helios. Waiting for the perfect candidate to take him through the firewall and help him rise to the top of Helios again. Then he could install himself into the waiting cyborg body and _rule_ again.

It seemed easy enough. Surely dozens of suitable candidates would be poking around his off-limits office space on the restricted floor. 

There were a few, as months turned to years. People without the technical skill or cybernetic enhancements to suit his purposes. There were a few Jack recognised as even more ambitious than him, people who would have taken advantage of his lack of body. They might even have sabotaged the one good body he had left to download into. It was kept hidden away at the back of his office, hooked up to the necessary life support in a stasis pod. 

But time was running out. The new would-be rulers of Hyperion redirected more and more power away from things that seemed non-essential. Things like Jack's separate network. Less and less power was free to run his life support system, or the artificial intelligence systems. 

So he roamed the executive floor, disembodied and increasingly furious. 

Surely Hyperion had _one_ person left who remembered their true king?

/-/

It was another average day on Helios. Deadlines loomed, managers threatened, Rhys worked hard and looked good to try and tread water in the sea of sharks. He had completed three out of four projects and so was rewarding himself with only a single hour's unpaid overtime. Which meant he was now on his way back to the apartment he shared with his friend Vaughn. 

“Rhys! Think fast!”

He did, spinning round on his heel with his hands in the shape of guns and throwing out a quick _pew-pew_. The suited man who had called him clutched his hands to his chest in a facade of pain. 

“You got me,” he chuckled.

It was utterly inane, but finger-gun fights were still one of the higher points of working at Helios these days. Rhys forced his business smile. “You shouldn't have warned me.”

“Maybe I won't next time,” the guy replied with his own grin before striding off to the coffee machine.

What was his name again? Larry? Barry? Rhys would have to keep an eye on him. His parting words might have seemed like innocuous banter, but around Helios one never could be too careful. He might have been referring to their next gun fight, or he might have meant something far more sinister. There were many ways to keep on top in Hyperion, all of them vicious.

As he approached the elevator, Rhys checked the time on his ECHO eye. He was out much sooner than expected – Vaughn would probably be surprised to see him. That meant he had time for a little detour.

Pressing his finger on the button marked 'R&D', Rhys couldn't help but grin with anticipation. He had saved up eight months pay to get an upgrade to his neural port and it felt _amazing_. Vaughn had expressed excitement at maybe going on a bro holiday together (broliday?) once Rhys had replenished his funds, but Rhys wasn't quite done shopping. He wasn't sure he ever would be.

The doors opened to the Research and Development level and Rhys stepped out as eager as a kid walking into a theme park. He made his way through the corridors of busy workers, striding confidently except for whenever he had to duck quickly out of their way. He had attended a body language lecture a few months previously and tried to put as much confidence into his gait these days as he could. 

It was much quieter in Cybernetics than in the other zones. Hyperion preferred to concentrate on weapons manufacturing, eridium mining and other things Rhys chose not to examine too closely. Even the eridium mining was less prominent in their portfolio since the loss of Handsome Jack.

At the thought, Rhys' gaze honed in on a black and yellow cybernetic arm. The colours of Hyperion and Handsome Jack. He walked over to the rack where it hung eye-catchingly among limbs of black matte effect and dynamic red and silver. He reached out and ran his finger along the yellow veneer.

“Ah, the Hyperion Data-Slicer. A good model indeed.” Doctor Williams was a petite blonde woman who humoured Rhys' interest in her work. “How is your new neural port?”

“It's fantastic, thank you.”

“Already eyeing up a new upgrade?” She asked with a smile.

“Can't help myself,” Rhys confessed. He had always been a sucker for fashion and his cybernetics were like the most cutting edge of accessories. He stroked the Hyperion-coloured arm. “How much is the Data-Slicer?” 

Doctor Williams told him and watched his face fall with a sympathetic smile. “Your current model contains the same features, essentially.”

“Yeah, but...” He held back from telling her he wanted the colours more than anything. That would sound pathetic.

With a sigh, the doctor shook her head. “You know what? Hop in the chair, Rhys. We'll do a straight swap. Just don't tell anyone. I'm only willing because I've had a good day and the colours are the only noticeable difference.”

“Really?”

When she nodded, Rhys let out an embarrassing sound of excitement and lifted the arm from the rack. He handed it to the doctor and rushed into the medical chair. The procedure for his arm was much, much faster than the ECHO eye or neural port. Completely painless. Switching the limbs took as long as testing functionality afterwards. 

Before long everything was in order and Rhys was waving a grateful goodbye to the doctor with his shining black and yellow arm. He made his way back to his shared apartment feeling like a king.

/-/

Vaughn glanced up from tying his shoelaces when Rhys walked in. “Hey, where have you been? Did you have to take the long route to avoid Vasquez again?” The burly man had recently decided that Rhys and him would make a perfect power couple. Rhys was less keen, thankfully.

“Huh? No. I'm early.”

“Yeah, but I saw Wilkins from your department and he said you left a while--” Vaughn stopped mid-sentence, suddenly noticing the new element in Rhys' perfect ensemble. “New arm!”

“Yeah!” Rhys grinned like a loon. “It's called the Hyperion Data-Slicer.”

“Oooh, let me see!” Vaughn rushed to his best friend's side and ran his fingers lightly along the new appendage. “Company colours. _Nice_.”

“In honour of Handsome Jack,” Rhys said, voice suddenly sombre. Vaughn sighed. It had been over two years since Handsome Jack had perished in his fight against vault hunters. Rhys' collection of memorabilia became more valuable each day, but it seemed he would never part with any of it.

“Well it's very nice. I'm guessing it set you back a bit?” So much for their planned broliday. Rhys was so terrible with his money.

“Actually, Doctor Williams cut me a great deal on it. Isn't that awesome?” Rhys twisted his arm this way and that. The yellow and black shone in the fluorescent lighting of their living room-kitchen. 

“Suspiciously so,” Vaughn muttered. He wondered if Doctor Williams had the hots for Rhys or if she was on the payroll of some other Hyperion go-getter that might want Rhys out of the picture. He was on the up and up after all. “Did you double-check all the diagnostics?”

“Of course. Let's not look a gifthorse in the mouth, Vaughn.” For the first time since entering the apartment, Rhys looked Vaughn up and down. “How come you're dressed to go out?”

Typical. Vaughn reminded himself it wasn't personal, that Rhys just had a crappy memory for events. “Tonight's the presentation and debate to the board. I'm putting forward my new budgeting plan. Don't worry, it's just a little... nothing that I've been working on for months...”

Rhys' eyes widened in realisation. “That's tonight?”

Vaughn rolled his eyes as he grabbed his briefcase. “Yes, it's tonight. Honestly bro, it's a good job you're pretty.” 'Bro' made it platonic. Vaughn was well-practised at that.

“Well good luck!” Rhys leaned down to hug him. God he smelled good. 

That good luck hug bolstered Vaughn's confidence all the way out of the apartment and down to the central foyer. A dozen elevators pinged open and shut, sending Hyperion employees all over Helios. Vaughn had to go to the Star Level. That was only two floors below the foreboding VIP Level, where Handsome Jack's office sat undisturbed.

“Headed to the presentation?” Vasquez boomed from nearby, making Vaughn jump as he waited for the elevator. 

“Uh, yeah.”

“What a coincidence, so am I! The board are going to _devour_ my idea. I'll probably get a _double_ promotion from this.” He loomed over Vaughn, getting so up in his personal space that the small accountant could see nothing but beard. “I'm sure Rhys will be impressed.”

“The only way you could impress Rhys is by dropping dead. Quickly.”

“Aww come on now, don't be like that. We should be friends, short stuff!” The elevator dinged open. “Here, let me help you on your way.” Vasquez reached in and pushed a button, then shoved Vaughn into the elevator so hard that his briefcase fell from his hand and sprung open upon contact with the metal floor. Papers scattered everywhere and as Vaughn tried to reorder them, the elevator doors thumped shut.

“Oh come on!” He shouted, before glancing at the buttons to see where he was headed. The Hyperion elevators had been refitted to force people to arrive on the floors in the order that buttons were pressed, after a series of meetings missed due to the old prank of slamming all the buttons at once. The new system was in no way more efficient, but it was the product of three months work by a taskforce so it was likely to stay for a while.

Vasquez had pressed the VIP button. The restricted floor. Vaughn gulped. Would alarms go off just from the elevator arriving on that level? For a moment he considered hitting the emergency stop and letting a maintenance team pull him out. But that could take hours, long enough that he would miss the presentation opportunity. Damn Vasquez. For the duration of the ascent Vaughn plotted vengeance. 

When the doors opened, Handsome Jack was right in front of him. Vaughn clutched his chest in shock before realising it was just a painting on the opposite wall. 

“Hello?”

A girl's voice. Was there someone up here? Nervously Vaughn stepped out of the elevator. “Um, hello?”

Further down the corridor a screen lit up on the wall. A young woman looked down at him, dark hair but skin pale as snow. “Hello.” She glanced away for a moment, then back to him. “Employee 221217814. Vaughn. You shouldn't be up here.”

“Uh, uh, I'm sorry. I'll just--” He turned but the elevator doors slammed shut. What the hell? “Hey! I can't leave if you close the doors. Computer, open them!”

“That wasn't me,” the AI responded with an odd tone of regret. “I'm sorry.”

Vaughn hammered his palm at the button but the elevator did not return. “So who was it then, computer?”

“Her _name_ is Angel, shit-stain.” 

Even after two years, Vaughn recognised the voice that had threatened them all over the Helios tannoy. 

Handsome Jack.

/-/

When a tray slammed down onto Rhys' table in the cafeteria he glanced up from his ECHO display expecting it to be Vaughn, who had not returned home the night before. Unfortunately, it was not Vaughn. Vasquez somehow sprawled out his big limbs on the little cafeteria chair and nudged his tray against Rhys' until he had the lion's share of the table.

“Can I help you with something?” Rhys asked through grit teeth, having absolutely no intention of helping Vasquez with anything ever.

“Why yes actually, I have something of a... business proposition for you,” Vasquez replied with a grin. “An opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something major. I'm not offering this to anyone else, Rhysie.”

“Lucky me,” Rhys muttered sarcastically. 

“Yes,” Vasquez said, pointing dynamically at him. “Lucky, lucky, lucky you. Here's the deal. My presentation to the board was a monumental success. I practically got a freakin' standing ovation. In days you'll be seeing promotions, bigger offices, my own taskforce. And I want to share some of that wealth with you, Rhys. You're welcome.”

“I never said thank you,” Rhys said.

“That's because you're ill-mannered. But that's okay, you'll learn. I'll teach you. You'll be my padawan. My apprentice. My protege. My lover.”

“Thanks, but I really think--” _Wait, one of those things was not like the others!_ “Your what?!”

Vasquez chuckled. He leaned across the table and took Rhys' flesh-and-blood palm between his hands. “It's cute that you're trying to deny our incredible, inevitable, inexplicable chemistry. But really, Rhys, do you want to risk playing hard to get when I'm about to become the most eligible bachelor in all Helios?”

“Yes,” Rhys said firmly. “That is a risk I'm very eager to take.”

“What? Don't be ridiculous Rhys! Turn me down now and you could end up stuck with that weedy accountant friend of yours. That little dweeb didn't even make it to the presentation. No doubt ran off crying after I sent him to the VIP floor.”

“You did what?!” Rhys stood up from the table so fast his chair legs scraped along the floor. Nobody knew what was left up there or why it had been set as off-limits. Vaughn could have been gunned down by security turrets as soon as the elevator doors opened. 

“Oh come on baby, don't be like that.”

“Do not call me baby!” Rhys shouted over his shoulder as he strode away, ignoring the staring of coworkers and the whispering. He had to find Vaughn. Good friends were not easy to come by on Helios. He was so angry about what Vasquez had done that he didn't stop fuming long enough to second-guess himself until he was already in the elevator and his finger hovered over the 'VIP' button. 

He jabbed it firmly before he could talk himself out of it. The doors closed. The elevator rose quickly. Rhys consoled himself that even if he was brutally disintegrated in the moment the doors reopened, it would be a better fate than dating Vasquez. He felt nauseous just contemplating that. 

When the doors opened he glanced up at the display to check he was on the right floor. Aside from the flickering dim lighting there was nothing amiss. No alarms or laser turrets. 

Rhys stepped out nervously. “Vaughn?” No response. Unsurprising as he had whispered it. He cleared his throat and called louder. “Vaughn?”

The response came from down the corridor. “Rhys?!” He ran down the dark corridor until he found the cell where Vaughn was held captive behind electrical bars that were deadly if they were like the ones on the detainment level. Vaughn lit up when he saw him. “Rhys, you came to find me? Wow! I'm... I'm moved, bro.”

“Yeah, yeah, how am I going to get you out of there?”

“Um, I don't know, the whole system seems to be controlled by AI. Rhys... you have to leave me. If he shows up again... He's insane!”

“Who? Who's insane?”

“He doesn't mean insane, he means handsome.” Rhys shrieked at the voice behind him and fell back onto his ass. He shuffled back, staring wide-eyed at a hologram of Handsome Jack himself. Jack grinned. “It's probably the captivity, made him go all loopy.”

“Uh... Did um, you put him in there? Handsome Jack? Sir?” It was probably just an old security hologram, but Rhys thought it best to show the appropriate respect.

“Of _course_ I did. Are you slow or something?”

A woman's voice emanated from somewhere nearby. “Employee 1882519. Rhys. One of our top performers in data-mining. A successful result from the overall unsuccessful Human Upgrade Projects.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Well, well, well. Not as useless as this one. I got some tasks for you.”

Ominous. Very ominous. Rhys continued to back away. “I don't think--”

“Clearly you don't. But if you don't stick around and cooperate I'm gonna kill your little friend.” On cue, a small turret descended from the ceiling in Vaughn's cell, leading the little man to scream and dive onto the bed.

Rhys jumped to his feet. “Okay, okay! But you've got to let him go first!”

“Oh _have_ I?” Jack asked, looking every bit as dangerous as the real man. In Vaughn's cell, the turret made a whirring sound. But the electric field at the door fizzled out and Vaughn took advantage of the opportunity to leap out of the cell and hide behind Rhys. Jack growled. “Angel? What gives?”

The female voice in the walls responded, “This one could be of real use to you, Jack. We should accommodate him.”

Jack folded his arms, still scowling. “'Accommodate him'? Oh sure. Fine. Okay. You!” He jabbed a finger in Vaughn's direction. “Scram!”

But Vaughn jutted his jaw out heroically and said, “I'm not letting you keep Rhys!”

Another turret rose out of the ground in the hall and aimed at him. Jack shrugged. “I will though. With or without your bloody corpse on the floor.”

“Go,” Rhys insisted. “Just go. He'll let me go after I've helped him. Right?” He asked Jack.

“Sure!” Jack confirmed. With a last helpless look, Vaughn ran back to the elevator. As soon as the doors shut, Jack cackled. “I'm not letting you go, pumpkin. Just so you know.”

“What? But... but I was going to help you!”

“You still are. But tell you what, my Angel's right. We should be good hosts. I wanna get to know you a little better since you're going to be working closely with me now.” If he was a security hologram he was a _very_ well-programmed one. Rhys followed him down the corridor to a room. “Here. Go on in, freshen yourself up. Wander around, take in the sights, don't expect the elevator to open for you again. Oh and do me a favour and stay _out_ of the room with the big golden doors or I'll kill ya. I mean it. Angel will let you know when we've got food sorted.”

Jack vanished in a sprinkling of hologrammatic pixels and left Rhys alone. Rhys wandered further into his room. There was a sofa that he might be able to sleep on, a Quick Change station, a screen on the wall and a window with a stunning view of some sort of colourful tear in space. Rhys curled up on the floor by the window and stared at it for some time, hoping Vaughn would stage a rescue sooner rather than later. All his life Rhys had wanted to meet Handsome Jack, but not like this.

/-/

Vasquez had just finished a particularly irritating phone call and was drinking a mildly satisfying cup of coffee when Rhys' dumb little friend burst into the cafeteria shouting nonsense.

“--And it was Handsome Jack! And a female AI! And they have control over the whole floor! They locked me away but then they let me go but they've got Rhys! We need to get up there and shut them down or something! Why are you all laughing at me? Hey! Hey, let me go!”

It was with some amusement that Vasquez watched as the security team manhandled the little accountant out of the cafeteria level. Some amusement... until an idea struck. Rhys was inordinately fond of the scrawny little man. Rhys' position in Hyperion was currently untouchable, but Vaughn's...

“And that, my friend, is what we call leverage.”

The barista raised an eyebrow. “Actually that's a latte. And I'm not your friend.”

/-/

“Rhys, Jack is requesting your presence at dinner.”

When he raised his head from his arms, where he had rested it to doze, Rhys saw the screen on the wall was occupied by the image of a young woman's head and shoulders. 

“Who are you?”

“My name is Angel. I am... I _was_ Jack's daughter.”

“I didn't know Jack had a daughter,” Rhys said, pushing himself up to his feet.

“Well, I was hidden away. As a siren my powers were very useful to him. I guess you could say I betrayed him. He betrayed me first. Then I died. Then so did he. I guess it's all water under the bridge now. Are you ready for dinner?”

“I'm not going to dinner,” Rhys snapped. “He's kidnapped me! I want to go home.”

“It's possible he'll allow it once you're done, but I wouldn't bet on it.”

“Yeah, neither would I.” Rhys waved a hand at the big window. “You know I keep seeing corpses float by out there? Corpses!”

“Our previous visitors weren't as useful as you. I wanted to let them go, but Jack had concerns about what they might tell the rest of the station. I'm surprised he let your friend go.”

“You keep saying I'm useful. Useful how? Do I even want to know?”

“Jack will explain everything at dinner. Everything he wants to explain, anyway.”

“He's not even the real Jack,” Rhys snapped. “Handsome Jack is dead. I'm the prisoner of a crazy artificial intelligence!”

“It really isn't any different from a reincarnation at a New-U Station. The programming is a perfect mirror of Jack's self in life. He just lacks corporeal form. You know, I'm surprised at the effort he went to in order to get some food arranged for you. It's not easy when you rely on outdated and broken loaderbots to move things. They lack precision.”

Rhys scowled at her. “I refuse to be grateful that my captor is willing to feed me! Tell him I'm not going.”

Angel sighed. “Alright, but I think that's a very bad idea...”

/-/

Stasis pods capable of holding anything in a state prepared for reanimation. One held Jack's last viable body until he could be brought back, the others held enough food to last an army for a year. It was somewhat frustrating that his life was currently valued the same as fresh fruit. The loaderbot with the wonky leg had staggered over with sacks of fruit and directing it to pour some into the bowls it set on the table was a deeply frustrating endeavour. There were other little canapés and, okay, the presentation of the table was pretty poor overall but it was food and it was the best he could do until he got his own body or some human minions that could be trusted.

“Angel, where is he? I called for him like, five minutes ago.” When he was alive nobody would have dared keep him waiting for five minutes.

“He's not coming.”

“What do you mean 'he's not coming'? He knows there's food here, right?”

“He does. But he's not really happy about being kept here against his will. I think we should have been nicer when asking for his help.”

“Nicer?” Jack looked at the food on the table. “Nicer?! I'll fucking show him nicer!” He dashed through the systems and projected himself in the room he had given Rhys. The ungrateful little shit was sat moping on the sofa. His eyes – one hazel, the ECHO one blue – widened when he saw Jack appear. Good. He ought to be scared. “I put out food. Get your ass to the table.”

Despite his fear, Rhys managed to look him in the eye and say, “I'm not interested.”

“No? More interested in starving to death?”

“I'll eat when I'm ready.”

“You'll eat with me. It's about the _experience_ , cupcake. The company. Like I said, I wanna talk to you.”

“Well, I don't want to talk to you. Not when I know you're probably going to kill me as soon as I've served my purpose.”

“I might not!” Jack argued. “Depends on how cooperative you are. I gotta say, pumpkin, you aren't making a good impression right now.”

“Oh, and you are?”

“I'm Handsome Jack. I always make a good impression.”

“You're not Handsome Jack. Jack was an amazing man. You're just a crazy AI with delusions of grandeur.”

Jack actually flickered for a moment, he was so incensed. “Oh I am gonna have fun venting you, Rhys. I hope you like space.”

Rhys brought his long legs up onto the sofa and huddled into a ball. “Do whatever you want.”

Tempting as it was to open the airlocks and send the pretty idiot out into the vacuum, Jack knew he might still have to use him. So he projected himself back to his office and examined the stasis pod his body was locked in. It had been losing power for weeks. He didn't have time to waste. Rhys had to be the one to help him or Jack was going to die all over again.

/-/

“You shouldn't be out of your room, Rhys,” said Angel, her voice echoing around the corridor as he peered in each doorway.

“I'm hungry. Are you really going to let me starve?” He made it sound rhetorical, but he didn't really know the answer. It was entirely possible that she would.

But she sighed, watching him from one of the screens on the wall. “Two doors down on your left. Jack ordered the loaderbot to smash it all up, but there are still things left intact.”

Finding the room she mentioned, Rhys was pleased to see that one of the intact things was a delicious-looking cake with buttercream icing. He cut himself a slice and scoffed it quickly. It had probably been too much to hope for ice cream, but cake was good. Then he ducked out into the corridor again to explore.

“Rhys, you should return to your room. Jack was really angry with you.”

“Like I care,” he said, feeling brave without the dead CEO looming over him. 

“You will care very much very briefly if he decides to eject you into space. You shouldn't test him. His temper gets the better of him.”

He ignored her. He was already a prisoner. Jack was keeping him for something and if Rhys wore out his patience then so be it. He wasn't scared anymore.

Well... he was temporarily more annoyed than scared.

“What's in here?” The room with the big golden doors. The forbidden room.

“You can't go in there,” Angel said, predictably.

“Watch me.” Rhys tried the pad by the door. It flashed red, but that just meant it was time to work the Hyperion Data-Slicer magic. He flexed his fingers then got to hacking. 

“Hey, stop that!”

Within minutes he had the door open. A great performance by the new arm. Angel protested as he went inside, but Rhys' curiosity needed to be sated. After he had checked out the room, he would try and hack the elevator. Had to be possible, right, If he could manage their super-secret room?

It was a huge office. Jack's office. The Hyperion throne sat golden and dusty behind a desk. The shelves were filled with random objects and memorabilia. Rhys approached the chair and poked some of the wires and attachments. One connection looked as though it would fit directly into his neural port, like one of Doctor Williams' cybernetic tools.

Then he saw it. The stasis pod in the corner. Angel called him back as he approached it, but Rhys didn't listen. Not when the transparent panel displayed Jack's body within. Not all glitchy blue like the AI's hologrammatic projection, but the actual body of Handsome Jack. 

Rhys' heart pounded as he knelt beside it and began tapping keys on the interface panel. Was it a clone? Was it the real Jack, frozen in time while his death was faked?

“WHAT THE _HELL _DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!”__

__The furious roar made him jump and he fell back away from the blue AI. Jack was blindingly close, snarling in Rhys' face like an animal. Rhys shrank further back. “I'm sorry, I--”_ _

__“Sorry?! I told you flat-out NOT TO COME IN HERE!” Around Jack screens flickered and sparked, activated and fried by his rage surging through the systems._ _

__“I just wanted to--”_ _

__“Cause damage, fuckwit?! Irreversible, unstoppable damage?! Are you too stupid to realise what you could have done?” If he had corporeal form, Jack's finger would have jabbed painfully into Rhys' skull numerous times. “Give me one good reason not to vent you from this god-damned station!”_ _

__It wasn't courage that shoved the words from Rhys' lips then, but fear. He had a vision of himself as one of those blue-lipped corpses floating around Helios and the panic lifted him to his feet. “You can't if I'm not here!”_ _

__He ran. He had to hack the elevator. As he reached the golden office doors Angel called him and Jack shouted, “Wait! You moron, hold up! I switched on the turrets!”_ _

__Rhys was through the doors and in the corridor before the meaning of that statement hit him. A turret blast almost hit him too. He dove behind a trash-can as the lasers tore the corridor apart. Over the sounds of chaos he could hear Jack shouting to his AI daughter._ _

__“Angel, get them shut down!”_ _

__“I'm trying but the protocol takes time!” They didn't sound like AI. They sounded almost human in their panic._ _

__“Argh!” Rhys flinched as a laser tore through the trash-can right near his head._ _

__“Oh for fuck's sake, I'm going in!” Jack shouted. Rhys had no idea what he meant._ _

__Another laser tore through the metal trash can down by his hip and Rhys wailed at the thought of dying like this. Then..._ _

__Silence._ _

__“Ah f-f-fuck.” Jack's voice sounded strange and it only took a glance to see something was wrong. His limbs kept glitching out of position, disconnecting themselves from the projection of his body. He vanished then reappeared a few paces further away a few times in rapid succession. “Think I-I-I fritzed something, Angel.”_ _

__“Hold on, I'm trying to correct your code,” the young woman replied, sounding a little worried._ _

__Rhys looked back to the elevator. Now would be the perfect time to make his escape. With Angel focusing elsewhere and Jack in this weird broken state Rhys could totally find the time to hack the elevator._ _

__“I don't know if I can fix it,” Angel says. “The damage is too substantial to repair internally. You shouldn't have done this ”_ _

__“C-C-Couldn't let Rhysie get zzzzapped,” Jack said. “M-M-My b-b-bad.” When he continued talking, his lips moved but no sound came out. Angel cursed._ _

__With one last look towards potential freedom, Rhys sighed. “Where's a console I can use? I'm not an expert on artificial intelligence but perhaps I could help with your instructions?”_ _

__“Yes. That could work. But you have to hurry, Rhys! Quickly, head to the third door on your right.”_ _

__He did so and found himself in a room of computers. “Okay, what do I do?”_ _

__Angel walked him through the complex programming, though Rhys knew more than she expected him to._ _

__“So typical of him to take these stupid risks,” she murmured to herself at one point._ _

__“Why did he do that?” Rhys asked. “I mean, to save me? He was about to kill me himself and then...”_ _

__“No. He wouldn't have. He needs you. And judging from the way he's been watching you? He might actually like you too. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how rare that is.”_ _

__“Yeah, right. Does Jack threaten everyone he likes?” Rhys asked as his fingers flew over the keys on the console._ _

__“Yes. Jack threatens everyone. He's killed people for less stubbornness than you've displayed so far. And this could have killed him, you know.”_ _

__“He's not alive.”_ _

__“Well what existence he has was put on the line to save yours. Just something to consider.”_ _

__Rhys frowned at her then finished inputting the commands and hit 'enter'. “There. I think I'm done.”_ _

__Almost immediately Jack appeared before him, actually _in_ the computer station from the waist down. “You did it, pumpkin!” He crowed victoriously. “I'm so proud! I got my limbs, my voice, everything! Honestly, if I were you I would have used that opportunity to run away.”_ _

__“I thought about it,” Rhys confessed._ _

__“But then you stayed,” Jack said with a grin. “Don't look so gloomy, princess. I rarely find loyalty. When I do, I reward it.”_ _

__/-/_ _

__“You don't understand,” Vaughn wailed._ _

__The three executives stared impassively at him from behind their long desk. Mr Allen, the wiry one with the earring replied, “No, Vaughn, _you_ do not understand the needs of Hyperion. We have given you ample opportunity to improve your performance and it is simply unacceptable that we have to reprimand you again.”_ _

__“My friend, another employee of Hyperion, is being held against his will upstairs by a mad hologram of our dead CEO and you're writing me up on a performance plan?!”_ _

__“The actions of other employees should not concern you,” said the woman at the other end of the table. Her name was Ms Singh and her sleek glasses probably cost more than Vaughn's rent. “You need to take ownership of your own poor performance.”_ _

__“I've been distracted by emotional turmoil! The ghost of Handsome Jack is holding my friend hostage on the VIP floor! Why won't anyone listen to me?!”_ _

__All three executives shook their heads sadly. Mr Michaels, the bald and heavy-set man in the centre of the trio sighed. “Vaughn, you haven't accrued any medical leave but I would seriously consider seeking some psychiatric help outside of working hours.”_ _

__“I'm not crazy! I saw it all!”_ _

__Ms Singh reached across the table and patted his hand with a smile that was really more of a grimace. Vaughn wasn't sure who was more uncomfortable with the uncharacteristic gesture of sympathy. “I'm sure you saw something very frightening. Clearing the VIP floor is certainly on the agenda, so perhaps the team responsible will find something of his to bring back to you.”_ _

__“Or we could go up there now and save him!”_ _

__She drew her hand back. “I feel we're drifting away from the point of this meeting.”_ _

__“My friend's life is more important!”_ _

__“Than your work?” Mr Allen asked, eyebrow raised._ _

__“Yes!”_ _

__The man pursed his lips in displeasure and made a note of something on his ECHO pad. Mr Michaels sighed and leaned forward. The desk creaked under his weight. “Vaughn. The VIP level was riddled with traps and malfunctioning security systems. Your friend is most certainly dead and the trauma has clearly left you unsettled. But I think you should try and turn this into a positive. You're still here. That means that, unlike Rhys, you still have a chance to turn your performance around and wow us in the next review.”_ _

__“This is insane! My friend could be... He could be dead...” Vaughn barely stifled his sob at the thought of Rhys being killed._ _

__Mr Allen raised an eyebrow at Mr Michaels who sighed again. “Very well. This is clearly a special circumstance. Vaughn, on this one occasion... I'm going to allow you to finish fifteen minutes early.”_ _

__/-/_ _

__“Get that look off your face, pumpkin. I'm not leading you into a death-trap.” Honestly, the kid always looked so suspicious and scared. “It's a pleasant surprise. Kind of a thank you for not letting me down out there.” Angel had helped him think of it almost as soon as Jack said he wanted to make some kind of gesture. It had been a very long time since he had tried to motivate with the carrot rather than the stick, but Rhys had surprised him. Anyone else would have made a break for the elevator and left Jack to eke out the rest of his dwindling days as a glitching hologram stuck flitting dismembered through the walls._ _

__He led Rhys through a door and down a narrow corridor until they reached another door that opened to show the cybernetics laboratory._ _

__“The cybernetics program wasn't utilised to its full potential,” Jack said as Rhys looked around with wide eyes. His blue ECHO eye was already scanning everything, greedy for information. “But there was a lot of cutting-edge experimentation and unexpected discoveries. It wasn't really my priority though. More of a hobby. That means that while a few cool bits and pieces got pushed down to you lackeys through short-term projects,” he nodded towards Rhys' arm, “most of the cool toys and upgrades were left with me as prototypes.”_ _

__Many of the advances were used in the production of his empty clone body. It waited in stasis for him to be downloaded into it, but the dumb fucks had overlooked the itty-bitty detail of where his A.I was stored. Again, Jack wondered if 'overlooked' was the word, or if the traitors had never intended for him to come back after death._ _

__“This stuff is amazing!” Rhys exclaimed, looking over a display set of different ECHO eyes. It was oddly gratifying to see him excited rather than sullen. Nice to get a bit of gratitude._ _

__“Obviously you'd need assistance getting a lot of it swapped in, but we could always arrange that later. The arms though, you might be able to manage an arm swap on your own. They're over there.” Jack pointed to a wall-mounted cabinet. “All Hyperion colours, babe.”_ _

__Rhys grinned like a kid on Mercenary Day and rushed to the cabinet. “Oh wow.” He twisted the various limbs around on their hooks, examining them with his ECHO eye and the intent focus of an enthusiast._ _

__“You know, not many people got through the trials unscathed,” Jack said, watching Rhys rummage through the goods. “And I mean single cybernetics trials. You must have gone through at least three.” Port, eye and arm. That was a lot of experimental surgery._ _

__But Rhys just shrugged like it was nothing as he bent the fingers on one of the cybernetic arms. “Needed an arm. Had a vision problem, needed an eye. At that point they offered the neural port and well, I wanted to be able to give something back to Hyperion, you know? It's useful. You can transport a hell of a lot of data in a human brain.”_ _

__“Oh, I know that, cupcake. In fact, you could probably carry my entire AI.”_ _

__“Probably,” Rhys said with a nod, still distracted._ _

__Jack thought about asking him then and there. No, fuck, _commanding_ him. But the kid was skittish. He had chosen Jack over his escape, but if Jack wanted to keep that sweet loyalty intact, he was going to have to play this game carefully. Quickly though._ _

__/-/_ _

__Something had changed, though Rhys didn't know what. Jack was being kinder to him than before. He was still a total psychopath but the violence in his personality no longer seemed to be directed at Rhys. Since Jack had revealed the lab they had spent a lot of time in there together. Jack was a genius and quite often provided instruction while Rhys was tampering with the cybernetic technology. Each comment tended to be followed with a demand for praise or an insult, but it was still incredibly useful. It was the sort of scenario Rhys had fantasised about, back when he used to daydream of being a part of Handsome Jack's life._ _

__“Nuh-uh, use the connection beneath, princess,” Jack said, leaning over Rhys' shoulder, his voice right in his ear. This close his hologram actually dipped into Rhys' body at his hip. And... elsewhere. Suffice to say that if Jack still had a physical body the position would have been pornographic. Rhys cleared his throat and tried to focus._ _

__“But...”_ _

__“Trust me.”_ _

__Though he should have known better, Rhys couldn't really help himself. It was difficult to maintain his anger at the whole captive thing when Jack was being exactly what Rhys had always hoped he would be._ _

__Jack showed him his private target range and let Rhys try out his favourite guns. His first attempts at shooting the target left Jack in fits of laughter._ _

__“Oh Rhysie, Rhysie, Rhysie. Here. Copy me.” He modelled poses and grip and talked him through shooting as easily as he talked him through cybernetic specifications. He got up close to examine Rhys' form and said with a sigh, “It'd be so much easier if I could touch you right now.”_ _

__Rhys' heart started to pound._ _

__Jack's wicked chuckle did nothing to calm it. “Easy, princess. I mean to correct your posture and grip. But hey, who am I to dismiss your fantasies? I mean, I _am_ the hero and king of Hyperion. It's only natural to feel a little overawed.”_ _

__Rhys managed to scowl at him to try and hide how close to home that hit. He wondered what Jack would say if he knew about Rhys' hoard of Handsome Jack memorabilia. No doubt he would find it hilarious._ _

__Finally he managed to hit a target dead between the eyes. It was luck more than anything, but Jack whistled. “ _Nice_ , princess. I'm very impressed.”_ _

__And something about the way he said it sent shivers through Rhys._ _

__That night on the sofa Rhys' hand moved under the blanket that Jack had helped him locate in storage. He thought of Handsome Jack and that wasn't unusual in these moments, but even in his fantasies of the living Jack the man had a shimmer of blue to him now._ _

__/-/_ _

__“Dimmer. No, not _dark_ , damn it Angel.”_ _

__“I'm just following instructions.”_ _

__“Not well. I'll do it myself.”_ _

__Jack reached out to the commands for the lighting system and turned them up and down until he finally found the perfect balance. “There. Ambience.”_ _

__“You're really going to a lot of effort on this.”_ _

__“Well we have to, don't we? We want Rhysie on our side, willing to do what needs to be done.” He looked over the table of food again. “Think this will be okay?”_ _

__“He won't eat a quarter of that, but yes, I think he'll enjoy it.”_ _

__“Good, good.” Jack ran a hair back through his hair feeling... nervous? Fuck, it had been a long time since he had felt anything like that. “I was thinking that if we do this right we might not even need to kill him once we've got what we need.” The kid was bright, loyal and pretty easy on the eyes. He could prove to be a good assistant._ _

__“I'm sure he would appreciate that.”_ _

__“Where is he? Did you call him?”_ _

__“Yes, Jack. He's on his way. I asked him to get changed for dinner, since you're pulling out all the stops.”_ _

__“I don't know about—” The door slid open and Jack stopped talking. His gaze ran down Rhys' body, right from his perfectly coiffed hair down to his expensive boots. He had used the quick change station to don a smart black shirt with yellow buttons and he matched it with a pair of skinny black trousers that had faint yellow pinstripes down one side. It looked like he had even polished his cybernetic arm. It gleamed._ _

__“Sorry, am I late?” Rhys asked._ _

__“Not at all, pumpkin. You come on in and take a seat.”_ _

__Angel disappeared from the monitor to give them the illusion of privacy, even though Jack knew she was a witness to everything that happened on Helios. He pulled out a chair for Rhys, who smiled at him in surprise at his gentlemanly behaviour. He shouldn't have been surprised. Jack was a damn hero, he could be a gentleman too._ _

__Dinner was fucking awesome. Jack couldn't remember the last time he had sat down and dined with someone he actually wanted to talk to. Okay, so he couldn't exactly eat anything, but he could live vicariously through Rhys' consumption of delicious food. In fact he made his potential assistant describe everything he was eating in as much detail as possible._ _

__Rhys laughed. “This is so weird.” But he played along and some of his culinary descriptions started to border on the erotic as time went on._ _

__By the time Rhys was finished dining, Jack wanted nothing more than to somehow spend the night screwing him silly. But he would need a physical body for that. His mind ran through a whole bunch of ideas he wouldn't need to be corporeal for, but there wasn't quite as much fun in that. After all this time, he wanted to feel it._ _

__“C'mon Rhysie. I wanna show you something.”_ _

__Rhys followed him trustingly down the corridor to the golden doors, only a little hesitant to enter after what happened last time._ _

__“I thought you didn't want me in here.”_ _

__“Yeah well, a guy gets paranoid after being betrayed over and over again. Takes a little while to build trust but...” Jack shrugged, struggling to explain his own change of heart. “You seem alright.”_ _

__For some reason Rhys beamed at that. His smile dimmed as he looked over to the stasis pod at the back. “So... what's the deal with that? Can I know?”_ _

__“Uhh, I guess.” Was he ready? There was no time like the present. “It's an empty body. A vessel, really. Once we locate someone capable of transferring my data out of the subsystem I could, in theory, take over that body and get myself back to the top of Hyperion.”_ _

__“It wouldn't take much,” Rhys said with a smile. “Everyone misses you. It hasn't been the same and it's run by losers now.”_ _

__“Doesn't surprise me,” Jack replied. “No one can live up to the King.”_ _

__“True.” Rhys wandered away, over to the wall of monitors. Jack frowned. The kid was _supposed_ to put two and two together and offer to put him into the empty body, not go looking at surveillance footage. “Are these recording all of Helios?”_ _

__“Uh-huh. We can see everything from up here. We just don't have the access to interact with it. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how fuckin' frustrating that is.”_ _

__“Hey, that's Vaughn!” Rhys crouched down to look at one of the lower monitors, which displayed his little friend being dragged down a corridor by a vaguely-familiar douche in a suit. “Where are they... what?!”_ _

__Jack went to join him at the monitors. They were throwing the little man into one of the cells. “Hang on, let me get the sound up.”_ _

__The man's voice filtered into the room through the speakers. “Vasquez, you moron! They've got Rhys! Don't you get it? Doesn't anyone understand? Handsome Jack has Rhys on the VIP level! He's gonna kill him or something! I'm not crazy!”_ _

__“Oh god.” Rhys looked horrified. “I have to help him! Jack, they might _kill_ him just because he's telling the truth!”_ _

__Jack wrinkled his nose. “Do you have to, though? Kinda hoped you wouldn't run out on me, kiddo. I mean, we're bonding here. I...” He stopped. He'd said enough. 'Trust you', 'like you', they were too cheesy for the moment._ _

__“I'll come back,” Rhys promised fervently. He made as if to clasp Jack's hand, but of course he went straight through him. “Sorry. Please, just let me go for a little while? Just to let him out and tell him I'm okay. And that I'm choosing to stay up here.”_ _

__“You'll tell him that?” Jack asked, surprised._ _

__“Of course. I was scared at first but now...” Rhys looked away shyly. “Well, I'd like to come back. I just can't let Vaughn suffer for my choice. You understand?”_ _

__Not even a little bit. “Hey, whatever's important to you, Rhysie.” He sent the command through to the elevator. “Everything's unlocked. Take the elevator down. And I'll see you soon, right?” Was he making the worst fucking decision here? “You had better come back or I swear--”_ _

__“I will,” Rhys said._ _

__And though he couldn't figure out why, Jack believed him._ _

__/-/_ _

__“See I've got some leeway with the security guys,” Vasquez droned on. “Some influence.” It was impossible to see the expressions on the faces of the security guards to know if they were okay with this assessment or not. “They'll keep you here as long as I say. They'll kill you if I say. And if I tell them to let you go, they'll do that too. So you had better come clean about this Rhys situation.”_ _

__“I've told you a hundred times, an AI of Handsome Jack is holding him prisoner on the VIP floor and we need to save him!” Okay, it sounded totally crazy. But what else could he say? He only had the truth. “And it's all your fault in the first place! You're the one who sent me up there. If you hadn't done that, Rhys wouldn't have come after me and been taken!”_ _

__“You honestly expect me to believe there is an artificial intelligence of Handsome Jack just roaming Helios and doing nothing except kidnapping attractive and feisty data-miners?” Vasquez laughed loudly. “You really are crazy.”_ _

__“No, he's not.” Rhys strode in with Hyperion confidence and Vaughn nearly screamed._ _

__“RHYS! You're okay! How did you escape?”_ _

__“Jack let me go,” Rhys said, smiling at him. “I couldn't leave you at the mercy of these idiots.” He turned back to Vasquez. “He's telling the truth. Let him go.”_ _

__Vasquez looked utterly stunned. “You're serious? If this is some sort of joke...”_ _

__“It's not. Handsome Jack has an AI on the VIP level.”_ _

__“It can't be true. Jack wouldn't leave us without his presence like this!” With that outburst Vaughn was reminded that Vasquez was nearly as big a Handsome Jack fanboy as Rhys was. “It must just be some sick simulation!”_ _

__“Well, it _is_ an AI but it's as close as we can get to--”_ _

__“NO!” Vasquez shouted. “Handsome Jack died! We have to protect his legacy! He left Hyperion to us, not some jumped up computer program! If this is true and I _will_ find out, then this virus needs to be shut down!”_ _

__“Don't be ridiculous!” Rhys cried out, protesting more loudly than Vaughn would have expected, given the whole kidnapping thing. “He's doing no harm!”_ _

__“Throw him in with his little friend,” Vasquez ordered the guards. They didn't question it, grabbing Rhys while one opened the cell, then manhandling him into the small room. Rhys was shoved to the ground and Vaughn immediately helped him up, checking for injury. Once the electric bars were back in place, Vasquez sneered at them. Specifically at Rhys. “Maybe when I let you out of there you'll be grateful enough to accept my business networking opportunity.”_ _

__Rhys scowled. “Vasquez, get this through your thick skull. I will _never ever_ want anything to do with you in any way. You repulse me.”_ _

__Vasquez just laughed. “Love and hate are opposite sides of the same coin, Rhys.”_ _

__One of the security guards cleared his throat. “Repulsion is more disgust than hate, realistically, so...”_ _

__“Enough! Get some more troops and follow me to the VIP floor! We're gonna gun down every server until there's nothing left to desecrate Jack's memory.”_ _

__They stormed out after him, some of the security guards sighing and muttering to each other. Vaughn and Rhys were left in the cell. Vaughn took the opportunity to throw his arms around his bro. “I thought he'd kill you!”_ _

__“He turned out okay actually,” Rhys said. “More than okay.” Vaughn let go of him in order to look up at his face. Rhys had the same faint blush on his cheeks that he had exhibited every time he saw the living Handsome Jack around Helios in the old days. “And now Vasquez is going to try and destroy him. Damn it!” Rhys settled down on the narrow and rickety bed that the cell possessed and began tapping commands into his cybernetic arm._ _

__“You won't be able to hack the security level,” Vaughn said, unhappy to be the bearer of bad news. “You know how protected it is.”_ _

__“I won't need to hack it,” Rhys responded enigmatically. “I just need to reach someone who can.”_ _

__The voice of the female AI from the VIP level came through on his ECHO speakers. “Rhys? I saw everything. Have you really managed to connect me to your cybernetics systems?”_ _

__“Yeah, but Angel, they're after Jack. You need to warn him!”_ _

__“Already done. It's you we're worried about. I'm going to try and get you both out of there. I'm sorry if it causes any shocks to your arm.” Rhys suddenly tensed with a cry and Vaughn thought he saw a spark on his neural port. His ECHO eye seemed to flash a few times. Then the electric bars disappeared. “That was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. I didn't mean to hurt you.”_ _

__“It's okay,” Rhys gasped, a little breathless. “You did the job. Me and Vaughn are on our way to help.”_ _

__He stood and staggered out of the cell, flexing his cybernetic fingers as if to check for damage. Vaughn followed him, but he was a little confused. “We're going _back_? Rhys, are you sure you don't have Stockholm Syndrome?”_ _

__“I'm sure, Vaughn. It's just...” Rhys stopped, searching for words. “He's Handsome Jack. You know what that means.”_ _

__Unfortunately he did. It meant Rhys was in love with the bastard._ _

__/-/_ _

__As they reached the VIP level they were welcomed by gunfire and screaming. The security forces that Vasquez had brought had mostly been mowed down by turrets, though some had successfully taken out the defences. Rhys ducked down and crawled past the crossfire, Vaughn close behind._ _

__“Rhys!” Angel's voice rang out around them. “That lunatic has found his way to the core control room! He's shutting everything down!”_ _

__“Vaughn, cover me!” Rhys ordered, handing him the pistol Jack had given him a couple of days ago._ _

__“What?! How?!”_ _

__There was no time to go through it, so Rhys just ran and hoped for the best. The security seemed more focused on the turrets thankfully, so there was only the occasional shot in Rhys' direction. He didn't look back to see how successful Vaughn was at defending him, but he didn't get shot so it was all good._ _

__“Rhys?” Jack flickered in front of him then faded. Then suddenly he appeared again. “Rhys! Listen kiddo. If this is it-t-t... it's been f-f-fun.” He was glitching, portions of his body disappearing then reappearing. It pained Rhys to see it. “I c-c-can't believe you c-c-came back! So loyal. Knew I was right to t-t-trust--” He vanished again._ _

__“No!”_ _

__Rhys burst into the control room and saw Vasquez unplugging consoles all over the place. Angel was crying out. “Stop! Stop it!”_ _

__Grabbing a nearby fire extinguisher, Rhys crept up on the man as he fired bullets into one of the computers. He brought the heavy canister down on the back of his head, knocking him out. Possibly killing him, but there was no time to check. Computers were sparking. Jack still wasn't materialising in his full form. Occasionally his head or an arm would appear, but nothing else._ _

__“Angel, how do I fix this?” Rhys asked in a panic._ _

__“I don't think it's possible.”_ _

__“Don't say that!” Rhys started plugging everything back in but the systems weren't all rebooting._ _

__“There is another way. See the console on your left? With the data link attached?”_ _

__“Yeah.” Rhys rushed over to it. “What do I do?”_ _

__“That console stores the majority of Jack's information. That can be transplanted into the empty vessel body stored in the main office. But there's already been so much lost... I don't know if it will work. If he'll be himself.”_ _

__But Rhys was already plugging the data link into his neural port._ _

__He woke up on the floor with a pounding headache and Vaughn shaking him. “Rhys? Rhys! Please be okay.”_ _

__“Stop shaking me,” Rhys grumbled._ _

__His friend did, but kept his hands tight on Rhys' arms as if he couldn't bear to let go yet. “You scared me there! I thought, I've just got him back and now he's dead?”_ _

__“I'm not dead. But Jack will be unless I move fast.” He climbed unsteadily to his feet. The shooting outside had stopped and the corridor was littered with bodies._ _

__“Most of them escaped back down the elevator,” Vaughn explained. “Then I hid until Angel turned off the turrets. Where are we going? I mean, I know what you said but Jack... he's already dead, Rhys. He's been dead for a while.”_ _

__“Well now he's getting a second chance!” What if it didn't work? Rhys didn't even want to contemplate it. He threw open the golden doors of the big office and ran to the stasis pod._ _

__“Rhys, he's _dangerous_ ,” Vaughn whined. “You're just confused. Come on, let's leave.”_ _

__He ignored his friend's attempts to draw him away. Rhys knew he could never go back unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been. He pulled up the data extractor from the stasis pod and plugged into his neural port. A feeling like mild electrocution ran through him and left him gasping, clutching the pod._ _

__Jack's eyes shot open. His gaze darted around for a moment then he threw a hand out and grabbed Rhys by the throat. Vaughn screamed._ _

__“Jack, stop!” Angel's voice shouted from the walls. “That's Rhys! You'll kill him!”_ _

__Just as Rhys managed to work a cybernetic finger between his throat and Jack's grip, the man let go. Rhys fell back to the floor gasping. Jack sat up in the pod and frowned down at him. “Rhys?” He seemed confused._ _

__“Do you--” Rhys had to stop and clear his throat, his voice croaking unexpectedly. “Do you remember me?” There could have been severe memory damage._ _

__Jack swung his legs over the side of the pod and crouched down beside Rhys. He put his fingers under Rhys' chin and tilted his head this way and that. Then he smiled slowly._ _

__The kiss was unexpectedly _fantastic_. Jack kissed – rather appropriately – like a man who hadn't been kissed in years._ _

__“Oh yeah. I remember you Rhysie. Know what I remember most vividly?”_ _

__Rhys shook his head dumbly, staring into his eyes. One blue, one green, heterochromatic like Rhys'. No longer just blue, blue and more blue. Jack was back. “What?”_ _

__“I remember thinking you'd make a great assistant. How about it, pumpkin?” Jack's voice lowered, became something dark and hungry. “Wanna help daddy take back Helios?”_ _

__Vaughn was backing out of the room. Angel made a sound of disgust and vanished from the screens._ _

__But Rhys nodded. “Yes. So much.”_ _

__Jack cackled maniacally then pinned Rhys to the ground for all the fun things he had missed out on while not having a body._ _

__And they lived happily ever after, for the most part._ _

__Helios and Pandora? Not so much._ _


End file.
